Advanced Tobruk Turn Example

The following is an extended example of play, focusing on showing each of the parts
of a turn and how the turn works. The situation is fictitious but only uses actual game
pieces in their historical role. Spotting conditions are Optimal and no unit is FOW
side up. You will note that not every single modifier and die roll is detailed. For best
results, set the following units up and follow along – they are all clustered in one
corner of the map to make it easy.

British OB – 1 Matilda (J1), Crusader II CS tank (O13), 88mm GUN OBA (FO in
S13), 76mm MTR (K11), 1 platoon (I1, I2, J2), 1 Bren (I1), 3 x Carrier A (A11, B10,
C10), Leader (I2), Bofors (J14)
German OB – 1 x MkIIIj (F1), 88mm GUN OBA (FO in A2), 75 SIG in Gun Pit
(A6), 1 37mm FlaK (E4), 88 FlaK (A1), 1 MG34 in Bunker (G2), squad in hedgehog
(C5), leader (C5), Stuka (off map), Mines2 (D5)

During each segment or phase players alternate firing and moving their units. Make a
die roll at the start of each phase to determine the side that may fire or move first
(unless specified otherwise by Scenario Special Rule). Unless using special fire and
movement types (e.g., Platoon Movement), each player may only fire or move one unit
before his opponent may fire or move one unit. You'll notice here, though, that we're
using Optional Rules that make Movement and Direct Fire more exciting, with more
than one 'action' per player most of the time his turn comes around.

1. INDIRECT FIRE SEGMENT

The British player rolls lower, so he will go first in each section of this Segment.

a. Smoke Shells
The British CS tank wishes to fire Smoke into A6 to hamper the German gun there.
He needs a ‘9’ or less to hit on the Indirect Fire Direct Hit Table (Play Aid 4), but
rolls a 10 and misses. Because of the miss, no smoke counter is placed (18.35).

b. Aircraft Attacks
The German Stuka now attacks, the German choosing to attack the Carriers, which
are 8-9 hexes from the Bofors AA gun. The Stuka passes the (24.311) Accidental
Bombing check, then attacks the A11 Carrier first with its big bomb. He rolls a 74 on
the Indirect Fire Accuracy Diagram, missing the Carrier by one hex. Before it can
attack the B10 Carrier, the Bofors gets to fire, since it is now within its 8 hex range.
However, the Bofors only rolls a 4 and misses (24.44) so the Stuka can attack again.
This time the Stuka drops all four of its little 50 lb. bombs. The Diagram roll is a
lucky 91, so all four bombs are checked for Direct Hits. Only one is a hit, but this is
enough to destroy the Carrier (17.2 Indirect Fire vs. Open-Topped AFV). The others
would have attacked on the ‘6’ FRAG column on the Casualty Table, the 500 one the
50+.

c. Off-Board Indirect Fire

The British now use their Forward Observer in S13. He can easily spot anything on
the map, so he gets Battery Access with a die roll of 4, and then places his CFF
counter in C5. He rolls a 56, so the counter is placed in D4, FFE side up. He then
makes Direct Hit rolls for both hexes C5 and E4. Both hexes are Good Cover so that
adds +1 to the die rolls and the British player gets no Direct Hits. Nevertheless, since
the Indirect Fire will be resolved in both hexes on the 20 column of the Casualty
Table, the German player decides to drop his personnel in the hedgehog into Full
Cover. Without a Direct Hit, they are now immune to the artillery, but they cannot
shoot out (12.712116, 22.03). Fortunately, for the Germans, the British player rolls a
9 in his attack against the flak gun in E4, so they get off easily. The artillery also gets
to roll for a direct hit against the mines in D5 but rolls greater than the 4 required.

d. On-Board Mortar Indirect Fire

The British mortar gets to fire now, and chooses to try to hit the German infantry gun,
10 hexes away. He misses his Direct Hit number of 5 but gets to use Half his 14 Frag
factors (6 column moved to 4 column for the Gun’s Good Cover) on the Casualty
Table. With a roll of 4, the Gun Crew gets a Casualty marker and has to pass a Morale
Check, which it does.

e. On-Board Indirect Fire

The Infantry gun gets to fire now, so he looks for someone who has not yet had a
chance to fire and decides to target the C10 Carrier, but misses (this gun could also
fire in the Direct Fire Phase, of course).

f. Counter-Battery Fire
Because the British 88mm artillery is so deadly, the Germans decide to use their off-
board artillery in the Counter-Battery mode. They luckily roll a ‘2’ and locate the
battery right away, but it will be two more turns before their counter-fire becomes
effective (16.11).
(The Direct Fire Phase, Movement Segment and Final Opportunity Fire Phase
are combined into one Segment, using the recommended Optional Rule in the
forthcoming rules update. Not a radical rules change, this just changes the tempo
of the game. We are also using the Optional Rule that allows a random roll to
determine how many actions each player can perform each time he gets to act -
one d10 divided by two, rounded up.)

2. DIRECT FIRE and MOVEMENT SEGMENT (Defender may Opportunity Fire)

i. Units not marked with an “F” or Move marker may fire at any enemy units
ii. Vehicles may use Cross Country or Assault Movement
iii. Personnel may use Crawling, Assault or Running Movement

Both sides now vie for the chance to move and fire first, with the Germans rolling
higher. Since they are defending, they will use this chance to try to pick off the
attackers before they can move in or fire. With a die roll of 8, the Germans get to take
four actions (8/2 = 4).
First, they attempt to knock out the Matilda with the 88 FlaK gun. Since the 88 moved
during the scenario, it will suffer from 12.251 reduction of ROF, so its ROF will be
just 1. The mighty 88 rolls an 8 and misses, so the German marks it fired.

With his next action, the German fires the MkIIIj at the Matilda. This time he gets a
hit, but the round fails to penetrate. He places a BOT marker on the Matilda and fires
again (for the BOT bonus). He gets another hit but again fails to penetrate. The Mk III
is also marked fired.

The German decides to next fire the MG34 in the bunker, at the nearest British
infantry in I2. They have no cover so the roll is on the 8 column. The German rolls a
2, so the British suffer a C3 result. With both units in the same cover, the British
player selects the squad to take the hurt, so he flips the counter to the half squad side
and marks it with a casualties marker. The German also places a Continued Fire
marker in the hex, since he fired more than 6 FF.

The squad now takes a Morale Check +3. The half squad’s morale is 6 normally, but
the 8 morale leader, the two other squads and the Matilda within the one hex Morale
Support Range make it an 11 (+5), but with a roll of 9 the half squad still fails with a
final 12 (9+3 for the casualties). The British player marks the unit Broken. The
German puts a Fired marked next to the MG34 to show that it has fired but still has a
shot remaining due to ROF.
The German player has now used all four allowed actions and play switches to the
British. He rolls a 4 and thus gets two actions. He needs to take out that MG34, and he
could use his two good squads and the leader in a Platoon Move forward, costing only
one action, but he wants to leave the leader with the broken squad. So first his I2
squad Crawls forward to H1. Since he Crawled, he could also use Assault Fire now,
but at half strength, then two shifts left for the Bunker’s Improved Cover he could not
get a result. He will have to resort to a Grenade Attack or Infiltration to Melee. Next,
the British moves his other good squad. This one not only carries a Bren machine gun,
but also has to use Assault Movement to cover the two hexes to H2.

The German decides to use Opportunity Fire at this point with the MG34. The MG34
rolls a 4 on the 8 column, shifted to the 10 column for Assault Cover State – a C2.
The resulting British half squad has to pass a Morale Check +2, with a +3 modifier to
its morale (making it a 9). With a roll of 8, this half squad breaks, and because he is in
the Morale Support Range of the German MG34, he surrenders, too! They are marked
with a Surrender counter and the Bren marker is put on the ground under the half
squad.

The MG34 is marked Fired now, as it has used both of its ROF shots. The German
player does not have any units he wants to shoot, but he rolls for impulses and gets a
9, so he can conduct five actions. He says he will only do two – his units in C5 and E4
both Crawl from Full to Good cover and are put on top of their entrenchments. They
are marked Moved.

The British player rolls a 6 and can do three actions. The Matilda fires at the MkIIIj,
gets a hit but no penetration, so gets another shot due to the BOT. This second shot is
a lucky one in the turret and knocks out the Mk III. For his third action, The Brit
decides to use one of the Carriers to try to take out the Infantry gun in A6. Since the
Carrier is not a Grey movement unit, he can only fire his machine gun at it. 3 factors
uses the two column, moved one left for Good Cover. With a 3 the crew takes
Casualties, then, with no units in support, fails the Morale Check +1 and is marked
broken.

The German rolls a 1 for his next impulses, and since only the little flak gun is
available to fire, he aims it at the Carrier that has not fired or moved yet. Its 7 hexes
away, so he needs a 7 to hit it (very small, that carrier!) but he rolls an 8 and misses.
He puts a Fired marker next to the gun to show that it has only fired once.
The British rolls a 10 for five more impulses. He only has one thing left to do – use
the last Carrier to try to knock out the 88. Since he cannot Overrun he will have to
shoot. The flak gun might get him, though, so moving would make him a harder
target, but would make his shot weaker (halved for Assault Fire). He decides to act
like a Carrier and moves to C9. The German opens up with the flak gun in E4 as
Opportunity Fire. Now the Carrier is moving (+2), very small (+2) so he will need a 5
to hit it. He rolls a 2. Looking at the Direct Hit Results for APC and non-AFV
Vehicles table, he sees for an APC like the carrier the result M | 6K under 20mm, the
caliber of the flak gun. He rolls a 9, so the carrier is only M-Killed. The British roll a
1 on the Bail Out Chart, so they will stay on board.

Although stopped, the carrier can still fire its MG as Assault Fire, so it goes on with
the plan to shoot at the 88. Since the 88 is out in the open, a 1 will knock it out (a C2
result on the 1 column)… The British rolls a 4 and misses completely. This leaves the
British with three more impulses, but he Passes. The German gets two impulses, and
now can shoot again with the flak gun. He has a BOT marker on the Carrier, which he
stopped with his last shot, so instead of just one more ROF shot, he has two. The BOT
also makes a hit certain, so he simply rolls for hit location twice. The first shot scores
another M-Kill with a track hit, but the last shot knocks out the Carrier. Boo-hoo.

With everyone on his side done at least for the turn, the British Passes again, and the
German Passes also, so they agree the Fire and Movement is done and move to the
next phase.

3. CLOSE ASSAULT SEGMENT

a. INFILTRATION PHASE
i. Units eligible to enter melee may conduct grenade attacks against adjacent
enemy units; they need not enter melee following a grenade attack.

The British player has just the one squad that can conduct a grenade attack, and their
odds are better at that than they are in melee. The British player rolls a 4 on his
grenade attack (14 column, shifted two left for the Bunker to the 8) for a result of C2.
The German MG crew goes down, leaving the bunker unoccupied.

ii. Move personnel units one hex ONLY if they will enter an enemy hex to engage
in melee
b. MELEE PHASE
i. Hexes marked with a melee marker are resolved until only one side remains in
a hex

4. END OF TURN SEGMENT

a. REMOVAL STEPS
i. Remove Movement Arrows (except vehicles continuing movement)

The British now wishes he had moved his first Carrier, too, so it would be harder to
hit in the coming turn.

ii. Remove Melee Markers

iii. Remove “2” Smoke and “F” and 'arrow' Markers

There are many of these to pull off. Now the map is much more tidy!

iv. Flip FFE Markers to their CFF side

The British have one of these.

v. Flip “1” Smoke to “2” side

vi. All Other Markers Remain
b. RALLY ATTEMPTS
i. Attempt Rally Broken Personnel units stacked with Leader

The British leader can try to rally the half squad in his hex with a morale check. If he
can catch up with the Surrendered British half squad (due to move under German
control next turn), he can try to rally it, too.

ii. Attempt Rally Surrendered units stacked with any Friendly Leader.

That's it! One entire turn, using most of the Sequence. Send questions to Kurt Martin
kmartin@ic.net and thanks for playing!